Ireland women hit Scotland for 57 on historic day

Ireland recorded their third win of the championship following victories over Italy and Wales

Sun, 17 May, 2026 - 16:30

Simon Lewis

Women's Six Nations: Ireland 54 Scotland 5

Ireland delivered a powerhouse performance to mark their historic day at Aviva Stadium in front of a record home crowd when they closed out their 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign with a dominant victory over Scotland on Sunday.

In front of 31,294 supporters, the biggest crowd of the weekend in Irish rugby with the men of Leinster, Munster and Ulster all at home on the final weekend of the URC regular season, Ireland’s women put on a show to blow the injury-hit Scots away and record their third victory of this season’s championship following bonus-point wins over Italy in Galway and Wales in Belfast.

Defeats on the road to world champions England and France meant Ireland could not break up the dominance of the competition’s big guns but this performance underlined their emergence as the best of the rest and will give confidence Scott Bemand’s side are on the verge of making that final breakthrough as title contenders once more.

Ireland were on top throughout in the one-sided contest, denying Scotland any territory as they powered into a 47-0 half-time lead, with No.8 and player of the match Aoife Wafer claiming two of the seven tries in the first 40 minutes. Hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and captain Erin King scored off the back of an excellent driving maul while King’s fellow flanker Brittany Hogan also scored from close range as Ireland’s forwards bossed the physical battle. There was also finesse out wide as wing Robyn O’Connor and full-back Stacey Flood showed great footwork and changes of pace to claim their tries, all to the delight of an enthusiastic and committed crowd that delivered a joyful atmosphere on a day of bright sunshine mixed with spells of heavy rain.

Ireland started as they meant to go on, with a dominant scrum inside the visitors’ half rolling the Scots off their own ball and earning a penalty from the resulting attack. The lineout that followed produced a drive that was just as effective, finished by Moloney-MacDonald in the fourth minute with fly-half Dannah O’Brien continuing her fine kicking form with the first six first-half conversions.

O’Connor produced a fine finish for her second international try, four weeks on from her maiden score on debut against Italy in round two. The score stemmed from a Scottish box kick charged down by tighthead prop Linda Djougang on Scottish five metre line. Ireland transitioned into attack instantly, moving the ball from right to left to reach O’Connor. The 20-year-old, in off her left wing had an option to pass to that edge but instead stepped smartly inside her marker, straightened and accelerated over the tryline in the eighth minute.

Ireland’s third came five minutes later as Brittany Hogan’s pick and go found little resistance, before King’s unconverted maul try made it 26-0 on 18 minutes and brought up the try bonus point.

Moloney-MacDonald had a try ruled out in the 28th but a strong carry a minute later produced another one-out score, this time for Wafer.

Flood’s try in the 35th minute was another sharp finish as Ireland struck off lineout ball before Wafer claimed her second of the opening 40 with the best of the bunch, wing O’Connor dancing through midfield traffic on halfway to break into open space, then passing to Wafer on her inside shoulder, the No.8 evading the last defender before driving over the tryline to score under the posts. O’Brien’s conversion made it 47-0 at the interval.

To Scotland’s credit, they stuck to their task and staunched the flow of Ireland’s tries in the third quarter but the dam broke once more on the hour mark as Hogan doubled her tally for the match with her fourth try of the tournament, an eighth of the afternoon for the Irish, with O’Brien’s seventh conversion making it 54-0.

With the game long out of Scotland’s reach, the visitors finally started to make headway inside the Ireland half as the clock passed 70 minutes as they sought to avoid a whitewash. For 10 minutes the home side proved to be as impressive in defence as they had been in attack. Yet their resistance broke with the match five minutes into overtime when the Scots’ persistence leading to a yellow card for Ireland replacement forward Ruth Campbell. It was enough to provide an opening for Scotland with prop Aisha Sutcliffe scoring from a five-metre defensive lineout drive.

IRELAND: S Flood; B Parsons (N Gallagher, 60), A Dalton, E Higgins, R O’Connor (V Elmes Kinlan, 49); D O’Brien, E Lane (K Whelan, 60); E Perry (S McGrath, 49), C Moloney-MacDonald (N Jones, 49), L Djougang (E Cahill, 49); S Monaghan (D Wall, 49), F Tuite (R Campbell, 49); B Hogan, E King – captain, A Wafer.

Yellow card: R Campbell 83

SCOTLAND: C Rollie (C Grant, 55); R Lloyd, R Philipps, M Smith (L Scott, 4 - HIA), S Campbell (M Poolman, 73); H Nelson – captain, L Brebner-Holden (R Clarke, 63); L Bartlett (D Swann, 55), E Martin (A Sutcliffe, 55), E Clarke; E Wassell, L McMillan (H Cunningham, 67); B Boyd (H Bogan, 51), E Donaldson, E Coubrough.

Referee: Aurelie Groizeleau (France).